This robot does parkour (What the Future)

17 October 2018

Transcript

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You can take the animal out of the party, but you can't take the party out of this animal.
The SpotMini robot has learned to do a pretty damn good running man, but that's not the most impressive recent revelation from Boston Dynamics.
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Welcome to What the Future.
On today's show, humanoid robots take a giant little leap forward, a new technique to 3D print human body parts, and one of the most disturbing phone attachments I've ever seen.
If previous videos of Atlas's workout regimen had made you uneasy You may want to look away.
Yes, the humanoid robot by Boston Dynamics has graduated from jogging to full-blow parcor.
Now to be fair, the video posted on the company's You Tube channel is only 29 seconds.
We don't know how many attempts this took.
Boston Dynamics didn't say much about it, only that those steps are about 16 inches high, and that Atlas uses its whole body to generate enough energy and strength to jump without breaking its pace.
We've already seen Atlas out for a jog and this awesome backflip, but this latest demonstration is definitely the most impressive yet of the robot's agility.
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So you can cue the YouTube comments warning of a dystopian future ruled by our robot overlords.
[SOUND] Moving on from building humanoids to printing them, engineers at the university of Utah have developed a technique to 3D print human tissue.
That means doctors can print replacement tissue for a patient with a damaged ligament or tendon without harvesting tissue from other parts of the body and needing additional surgeries.
The process involves taking stem cells from the patient's own body fat and printing them on a layer of hydrogel.
The tendon or ligament will then grow in vitro before being implanted in the patient's body.
The team genetically modified these printed cells to glow fluorescent, so we could actually see what they look like.
Right now, this is designed for ligaments, tendons, and spinal discs, but scientists say it could be applied to any type of tissue.
Even printing entire organs.
[SOUND] Here's a body part I wish didn't exist.
This is MobiLimb, the phone attachment of your nightmares.
It comes to us by French engineering school Telecom ParisTech, because apparently your phone needs a finger.
It connects by USB from there how you finger your phone is up to you.
Among other functions like drawing out texts and acting as a kickstand, it's really designed to be an extension of the things your phone already does.
So imagine [UNKNOWN] texts you a smiley emoji.
The finger can let you know by gently stroking your wrist.
Or if you just can't be bothered to walk across the room to get your phone, MobiLimb has you covered.
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Now, if that's not creepy enough for you, look at these skins, so you can pretend it's an actual human finger.
Or a fuzzy cat tail.
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Now if your own fingers are already reaching for your wallet, this is just a research project.
You can't buy it, but do we really want to live in a world where our phones can give us the finger?
I'm guessing some of you do
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Okay, James Sodek asked us on Facebook if Atlus can clean his yard?
Fair question James.
coincidentally on the same day Boston Dynamics showed us Parker Atlus, it posted this video of its spot robot surveying construction sites in Japan.
Now this is not to be confused with Spot Mini, which we saw shaking it earlier in the show.
While it's not cleaning a yard, this is a great example of how robots like Spot and Atlas are starting to perform meaningful tasks In the real world.
By the way, Boston Dynamics says its Spotline will go on sale next year.
That's gonna do it for this week.
I'm Andy Altman.
Thanks for watching What the Future.
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